The psychedelics industry has ramped up over the past year as institutional investors entered and 2020 was a booming year for the psychedelics industry.
Money swept through the private side of the space as big names like Atai closed record-breaking rounds of funding and more companies entered, hoping to take part in what could become a $100 billion market, according to a May 2020 report from Canaccord Genuity.
Psychedelics companies vary in their areas of focus. Many are developing psychedelics-based medications in the hopes of gaining regulatory approval, while others host psychedelic retreats in jurisdictions where they’re legal. Some are working to develop patented compounds or treatment methods that can be used by pharmaceutical companies.
Despite a pandemic and subsequent lockdowns, several psychedelics companies went public on Canadian exchanges, raising millions.
The 14 private companies on this list alone raised over $222 million in 2020. Some told Insider that they’re gearing up to go public.
COMPASS Pathways, the biggest public company in the space, garnered attention from institutional for the industry. The company went public on the Nasdaq in September and currently has a market value To put together this list, we reached out to companies on our list from last year, used data provided by PitchBook, and asked investors JLS Fund and The Conscious Fund for information on startups in the space that are gaining investor interest.
In total, Insider reached out to 23 private psychedelics companies to ask them how much funding they raised in 2020. We only included companies that remained private throughout 2020. We narrowed down our list to 14 companies, based on how much money they received from investors.
Here are the top private companies in the psychedelics industry, listed by how much they raised in 2020:
Atai Life Sciences — $125 million raised
Atai Life Sciences CEO Florian Brand. ATAI Life Sciences
Founded: 2018
Located: Munich, Germany
Post money valuation: The company declined to comment.
What the company does: Atai Life Sciences is a biotech platform company that invests in and works raising funds. He also said that the use of psychedelics is becoming more mainstream, comparing it to the growing acceptance of cannabis.
Compass Pathways, which has a market value of around $1.5 billion, is part of Atai’s portfolio.
In November, Atai closed a $125 million series C round, marking the biggest funding round to date in the psychedelics space. Investors like Mike Novogratz, Peter Thiel, Thor Bjorgolfsson, and Steve Jurvetson have backed the company.
Beckley Psytech — $23.2 million raised
Cosmo Feilding Mellen and Amanda Feilding, directors of Beckley Psytech Beckley Psytech
What the company does: Beckley Psytech is a for-prot psychedelics company that was formed in 2019 when the Beckley Foundation, a non-prot focused on drug policy reform and scientic research into psychoactive substances, began to look for business opportunities that would be able to increase the scale
and ambition of its work. The foundation exists separately from the for-prot company.
Beckley Psytech is backed by investment rms Noetic Psychedelic Fund and Bail Capital. CEO Cosmo Feilding Mellen said that though the company will be a “platform where multiple drug development programs are running in parallel with dierent compounds, targeting dierent disease areas,” its rst priority of focus will be in the research of the synthetic compound 5-MeO-DMT, a psychedelic agent found in the Sonoran Desert toad.
Cyclica — C$23 million raised
Naheed Kurji President and CEO of Cyclica Cyclica
Post money valuation: The company declined to comment.
Total raised to date: around C$40 million ($31.3 million) in total.
What the company does: Cyclica is a biotechnology company that doesn’t deal exclusively with psychedelics but uses AI and biophysics to improve drug discovery and accelerate the development of medicines.
The company raised C$23 million in equity and C$2 million from a government grant in 2020. Though psychedelics is not the exclusive focus of the company, CEO Naheed Kurji told Business Insider that “neuropsychiatric disease is a key area of emphasis for Cyclica via non traditional approaches including
psychedelics.”
EntheogeniX Biosciences, a joint venture between ATAI and Cyclia, is aimed to design new compounds that will “minimize unwanted o-target eects” of psychedelic-based drugs.
PsyBio Therapeutics — C$15.8 million raised
Psybio Therapeutics Psybio Therapeutics\
Founded: 2019
Located: Oxford, Ohio and Coconut Creek, Florida
Total raised to date: C$15.8 million
The company says it is developing a “platform technology” that allows for the rapid generation of stable therapeutic compounds.
MagicMed Industries — C$10 million raised
MagicMed MagicMed
Founded: 2020
Located: Calgary, Alberta
Post money valuation: C$18 million ($14.1 million)
Total raised to date: C$10 million
What the company does: MagicMed Industries is a biotechnology company focused on creating a “library of psychedelic derivatives,” intended to help the industry develop new patented products. The company partners with pharmaceutical and other companies to develop psychedelic-derived pharmaceuticals. So far, MagicMed’s initial focus is on psilocybin and DMT derivatives, though it expects to expand its reach to other psychedelics in the future, including MDMA, LSD, mescaline, and ibogaine.
The company told Business Insider it has reserved the ticker “MGIC” with the Canadian Securities Exchange and is aiming to go public by the second quarter of 2021.
Bright Minds Biosciences — C$10 million raised
Bright Minds Bright Minds
Founded: 2017
Located: Toronto, Canada
Post money valuation: The company declined to comment.
Total raised to date: C$10 million ($7.8 million), according to the company.
What the company does: Bright Minds Biosciences is focused on developing psychedelics-based drugs to treat various central nervous system and mental health disorders.
The company says it currently has a pipeline of patented serotonin 2A and 2C agonists, or substances that initiate a biological response when combined with a receptor.
Gilgamesh Pharmaceuticals — $6.95 million raised
Jonathan Sporn, CEO of Gilgamesh Gilgamesh
Founded: 2019
Located: New York, NY
Post money valuation: $30 million, according to the company.
Total raised to date: $6.95 million
What the company does: Gilgamesh is a preclinical biotechnology company that is working to develop psychedelics-based treatments for conditions such as treatment-resistant depression, opioid use disorder, and ADHD, among others.
Bexson Biomedical — $4.8 million raised
Gregg Peterson, CEO of Bexson Biomedical Bexson Biomedical
Founded: 2017
Located: Santa Barbara, California
Post money valuation: $17 million
Total raised to date: $10.3 million, $5.5 million of which was a convertible debt round in 2017.
What the company does: Bexson Biomedical is a research-stage company developing dosing anddelivery tools for psychedelics-based therapies for pain and mental-health conditions. The company has a proprietary formulation of ketamine and wearable device for post-operative pain.
Small Pharma — $3.5 million raised
Small Pharma Managing Director Peter Rands Small Pharma
Founded: 2015
Located: London, England
Post money valuation: around $54.5 million (C$70 million)
Total raised to date: $10 million
What the company does: Small Pharma is working to develop a rapid-acting ketamine-based drug called SPL801B to treat depression.
The company is also developing a pipeline of other rapid-acting psychedelic compounds to potentially use as treatments for mental health disorders.
Journey Colab — $3 million raised
The Journey Colab team Journey Colab
Founded: 2020
Located: San Francisco, California
Post money valuation: The company declined to comment.
Total raised to date: $3 million as part of the Apollo Fund
What the company does: Journey Colab is working to develop a portfolio of psychedelic compounds for FDA approval, beginning with mescaline, a naturally occurring psychedelic compound found in some cacti.
The company says it also is working to partner with therapists to build out locally owned centers for psychedelics-based treatments.
Universal Ibogaine — C$3.8 million raised
From leftto right: Co-founder Dr Alberto Sola, CEO Jeremy Weate, Founder Shayne Nyquvest Universal Ibogaine
Founded: 2018
Located: Vancouver, British Columbia
Post money valuation: C$31.5 million ($24.7 million), according to the company.
Total raised to date: C$6.7 million
What the company does: Universal Ibogaine is focused on using ibogaine-assisted psychotherapy treatment to address opioid and other addictions. The company says it is working to develop a network of ibogaine treatment centers. Ibogaine is a naturally occurring psychedelic found in the West African shrub
iboga.
Universal Ibogaine says it is planning to go public on the TSX Venture Exchange through a reverse takeover.
The Synthesis Institute — $2.75 million raised
A look at a legal psychedelic retreat hosted by The Synthesis Institute The Synthesis Institute
Founded: 2018
Located: Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Post money valuation: The company declined to comment.
Total raised to date: The company declined to comment.
What the company does: The Synthesis Institute is focused on running psychedelic retreats, and its agship center is located near Amsterdam. The company also administers therapies and trains practitioners.
Synthesis raised $2.75 million in a seed round in July 2020, led by Novamind Ventures.
Diamond Therapeutics — C$2.8 million raised
Diamond CEO and Founder Judith Blumstock Diamond Therapeuticss
Founded: 2018
Located: Toronto, Ontario
Post money valuation: The company declined to comment.
Total raised to date: C$3.05 million ($2.4 million)
What the company does: Diamond Therapeutics is focused on developing accessible, low-dose therapies for mental health conditions. The company says it is currently preparing its rst clinical program, which will be focused on low doses of psilocybin to treat anxiety disorders.
Psygen Labs — C$2.5 million raised
Danny Motyka, CEO of Psygen Psygen
Founded: 2018
Located: Calgary, Alberta
Post money valuation: Approximately C$14.25 million ($11.2 million).
Total raised to date: C$6.5 million
What the company does: Psygen manufactures synthetic psychedelic substances, with a focus on “classical psychedelics” like psilocybin, DMT, LSD, and MDMA.
The company says it is also developing a drug development program to bring bring an LSD drug product to market
Originally published on businessinsider.com
